James Hetfield was born on August 3, 1963 in the well known city of Los Angeles, California. Some of his influences on becoming a master of lyrics for Metallica were, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, and Motorhead. His jobs before his singing career were, a janitor, and a sticker factory worker. James had a band before Metallica, and it was called "Obsession". James is the quiet person in the band; usually in interviews he doesn't talk as much, he hates interviews. But, when it comes to concerts, he is the call of the Devil!!! James' parents were Christian Scientists, the "big" jobs. But James, he liked to lie low, a quiet kid into sports. His older step-brother played the drums in a local band. This made James turn to rock in general; Black Sabbath. In his junior years, James and his family all moved to Brea, California. This is where James started out with his guitar playing. He played in the "high school party band" called Obsession, playing mostly Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Around this time, he got hooked up with Ron McGovney, who was soon to be metallica's first bass player. Then after, James got to meet Lars Ulrich through a newspaper called the "Recycler". This is when Metallica was truely first formed. James found himself playing the guitar instead of singing so that he could concentrate on guitar. They started to look for a front-man, but it never worked out. James continued to do both singing and rhythm guitar playing. With that, Metallica were on their way to popularity!